Page 94 of Hidden Ties

He expected her to walk inside, so he was confounded when he could only see her head poking through. Before he could understand what his client was doing, she was shoved from behind, being pushed into the room.

“I don’t have all day.” The officer he had gotten in an argument with not even five minutes earlier sent him a satisfied smirk.

Tripping forward, his client somehow managed to right herself.

He jerked himself to his feet and gripped the table to prevent himself from going after the asshole, knowing the fucker would use the excuse to have him thrown out and preventing him from talking to his client.

“Officer Dunbar, that was completely unnecessary,” he said furiously, giving him a menacing look.

Officer Dunbar’s callous expression turned smug, unfazed at the way Kent was looking at him. The fucker was going to regret laying his hand on Valerie Monroe just to get back at him. Valerie might be locked up in prison, but he wasn’t. Yet.

“Kent, you have twenty minutes.” The officer couldn’t resist giving him a gloating smile before he snapped the door closed.

“I’m afraid Officer Dunbar’s behavior is my fault.” Apologizing, he frowned, then sat back down on the chair. “He wanted you to be shackled before leaving your cell. I disagreed with him to his supervisor, and he took it out on you. Are you all right?”

“Yes.”

“Have a seat.” Kent looked the woman over. Her appearance did her no favors. She looked like a fucking hacker.

“Do you mind me asking who you are?” She returned the look he was giving her by looking him over. Hers lasted much longer, and for some reason, he was beginning to feel uncomfortable under her stare.

“I’m sorry. I was so angry at Dunbar I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Kent Bryant. I’ve been hired to be your attorney.”

“So … you’re not a public attorney?”

“No, I’ve been retained as your attorney.”

“By whom?”

“Lucca Caruso.”

Her mouth dropped open. It was obvious she had heard of the Caruso family, which would have been more surprising if she hadn’t. The Caruso family owned the Casino Hotel that was the direct competition of the Horseshoe that Valerie was alleged of cyberattacking by her former boss. Lucca Caruso was the CEO of the Casino Hotel and was paying him to represent the woman. She was smart enough to be afraid.

“Lucca Caruso?” she repeated the name to make sure she had heard it correctly.

Yeah, she was smart, but he already knew that.

“Yes, Mr. Caruso asked me to represent you.”

“I’m not usually in the position to look a gift horse in the mouth, but are sure you’ve been shown into the right room?”

“Are you Valerie Monroe?” he asked, opening her file to keep from laughing.

“Y-yes.”

“Then I’m in the right room.”

“I didn’t hack into the Horseshoe’s computer system, if Mr. Caruso is afraid I’m going to attack his computers.” Valerie dropped her voice, making it hard for him to hear her. Hell, she was barely moving her lips. “I wouldn’t, even though I could,” she added in a rush. “I would never ever be stupid enough to try to hack into the Caruso’s computers.”

He was forced to drop his eyes to her lips so he could try to understand what she was saying. “Why are you talking so weirdly?”

“In case they’re reading my lips.” Using her chin, she nodded at the camera on the wall.

She was playing too many video games and had become lost in a world she had created.

“Why would they want to read your lips?”

When she started wigging her eyebrows at him, he had no clue what she was trying to get at. Geeze Louise, if he hadn’t stepped in to represent her, Valerie would have found herself in prison for the foreseeable future.